BC Football: Eagles Rout Florida St. 35-3 in Conference Play

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Eagles Head Coach Steve Addazuo has often said he would like to see the Boston College offense be a run-first kind of team. Friday night, in front of the home folks, that premise was on full display. The Eagles ran the ball 55 times for 241 yards with freshman running back A.J. Dillon accounting for 149 of those yards on 33 carries and one touchdown. The Eagles ran the ball at Florida State defense which coming into this game was giving up on average 144.3 yards a game on the ground. It added up to an impressive 35-3 win for BC, their third win in a row and third straight in the ACC.

The night did not start out good when news broke before the opening kickoff that Senior DE Harold Landry would miss the game with an ankle injury. He was seen on the BC sidelines wearing a walking boot on his left ankle. Boston College took the opening kickoff and marched down the field, only to see the drive stalled in FSU territory. A 39-yard field goal try by Colton Lichtenberg missed wide left. Florida State held, but it would be the only mistake the Eagles made on this night.

The Seminoles punted the ball back to BC, and they used some trickery to score the game’s first points. A double reverse gave wide receiver Jeff Smith a chance to throw the ball downfield and he did not miss his target. A 34-yard strike to Kobay White put BC on the board first 7-0 after one quarter.

In the second period, BC’s defense continued to play lights out despite not having their best player on that side of the ball. After another Seminoles punt gave the Eagles great field position to work with, an eight-play drive was finished off when quarterback Anthony Brown, who had a tough night throwing the football, (6-20, 54 yards one touchdown) found his tight end Tommy Sweeney for an 11-yard score. 14-0 Eagles.

The very next time they had the ball they punched it in again. A six-play drive, all runs, was finished off by a four-yard touchdown run by Brown. 21-0 BC. The home crowd of forty thousand was loving it.

Before the half ended, Florida State would score their only points of the game and they came on a 36-yard field goal by Ricky Aguayo. The first half ended with Boston College up 21-3

In the second half, the Eagles put the finishing touches on the win and they also got some help from their visitors from the sunshine state. BC’s first drive of the third quarter went nowhere and they were forced to punt. Mike Knoll’s punt was mishandled by Seminoles punt return man Tarvarus McFadden and recovered by BC’s Will Harris. Three plays later, the Eagles were back in the end zone as Dillon took it in from two yards out. 28- 3 home team.

Backup signal-caller Darius Wade got in on the fun for BC. He entered the game after Brown injured himself on an 11-yard run to the right side. Wade called his own number and crashed in from a yard out to make the score 35- 3 after three quarters.

There was no more scoring in the fourth, as the Eagles ran as much time off the clock as they could. Florida State could do little to stop the BC run game. The Eagles would run twenty more plays than the visitors and outgain them by 116 yards (329 for BC, 213 for Florida State).

The win snaps a seven-game losing streak at the hands of the Seminoles. It also puts the Eagles one win away from being bowl eligible in back to back years. A much-needed bye week awaits the Eagles, and it’s a chance to get healthy and rested for the final three games of the season. For Florida State, it’s back to the drawing board. They will need to win out if they want to go bowling.

The Eagles are 5-4 overall with the win and 3-3 in conference. The Seminoles are 2-5 and 2-4 in the ACC.